Judge says disputed drug convictions should be tossed

BETSY BLANEYAssociated Press

Published Wednesday, April 02, 2003

TULIA, Texas (AP) -- The drug convictions of 38 mostly black defendants from a farm town in the Texas Panhandle should be thrown out because they were based on questionable testimony from a single undercover agent accused of racial prejudice, a judge said Tuesday.

Retired state district Judge Ron Chapman urged the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to grant new trials to everyone convicted in a case that has prompted investigations by the Justice Department and Texas attorney general.

"It is stipulated by all parties and approved by the court that Tom Coleman is simply not a credible witness under oath," Chapman said of the agent.

The case involved 1999 cocaine busts in this predominantly white town of 5,000 people. Coleman, 43, claimed he bought drugs from the defendants during an 18-month investigation in which he worked alone and used no audio or video surveillance.

But no drugs were ever found during the arrests and little or no corroborating evidence was introduced at trial. The Texas American Civil Liberties Union suggested discrimination was behind the arrests, intended to cleanse Tulia of its black population. Coleman is white.

Coleman, who had been due to resume testifying at the hearing Tuesday, was not in the courthouse when the judge announced his recommendation.

Mattie White, who had four of her children arrested and charged in the busts -- two remain in prison -- said she was elated.

"That's the best step I ever heard," she said. "We've been praying for this for four years, and we haven't ever given up."